Tip Top Forge

I have wanted to photograph the mill pond at Wortley Top Forge for a couple of weeks and the light and sky were promising yesterday, although the breeze did mean the surface was not as smooth as a mill pond should be.

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Ted, one of the volunteers, noticed me and invited me in, although Top Forge was officially closed.

The website (http://www.topforge.co.uk/) is rather dated but has some 360 degree interactive panoramas, which are excellent.

http://www.topforge.co.uk/panoramas/index.htm

The miniature railway provides an opportunity for some boyish fun.

Have a virtual ride behind the driver at http://www.wortleymes.com/wortleyrly.htm

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If I had any practical skill I would happily volunteer but accident prone, bad tempered, short sighted, social workers need not apply.

Here are few (Canon A700) images from a few years ago. In colour!

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A few days ago I wrote to Barbara to say that Brenda had almost talked me out of getting a fisheye converter.

However I have just popped over to Denton Photo Optics and swapped much stuff for a fisheye converter and a Minolta 110 Zoom SLR

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Minolta_110_Zoom_SLR

Never mind the quality just look at the width!.

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I was so carried away fisheyeing that I left my tripod at Top Forge but met Ted again when I went back to collect it.

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Even though the image is a full circle it does not cover 180 degrees. The converter describes itself as a semi fisheye with a magnification factor of 0.42. At the 28 mm setting, on the Dimage 7, that equates to about 12mm. I believe a focal length of less than 10mm (35mm full frame equivalent) is needed for a full fisheye effect.

 

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I got the idea for the tree image and using a fisheye converter lens, from an Internet site that displays IR images:

http://www.atsf.co.uk/ilight/photos/oldlight2.html